Raptors defense is terrible

The 7-13 Toronto Raptors are struggling to play defense in a very big way. Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun reports:

Just how terrible has the defence been? Well, for starters, the club is on pace to be the worst defensive team since 1977-78.

A little-known but telling statistic called defensive rating has been kept since that season. The rating measures how many points-per-100 possessions a team gives up and the lowest in history, shared by three teams, is 114.7.

The Raptors, losers of five in a row and 11 of 15 following Wednesday night’s 146-115 slaughter at the hands of the Atlanta Hawks, have a defensive rating of 118.3.

Granted, the team has brought that mark of shame down from the 120-plus it sat at early last month and it likely will fall further into the simply horrific column, rather than historically horrific, but something fundamentally is wrong with this team.

The Raptors are scoring 105.3 points per game, but giving up 111.0. And opponents are shooting 48.5% against them.

If this keeps up, we could see a roster shakeup in the not-so-distant future.